My trip to Europe has come to an end. 23 days was more than enough. I got to see the things that I wanted to see and still have a little time to make new friends. I had a blast and so many of my dreams came true on this trip. Europe is like no other country, it is full of life, new and old. Everything has a story behind it, everything has a history. To sum it all up it was the great ending to my first chapter in life.
For me I guess that Europe was my transition period, from my single life to the beginning of my married life. In a way it was my 'one last hoorah' before I start a new chapter with Josh. I learned a great deal on this trip. At times it was stressful but all in all I couldnt have asked for it to come at a better time in my life.
I got to see the Eiffel Tower one of the things I have always dreamed of doing. I ate crepes in front of Notre Dame, paninis on the Champs de Mars, toured Versailles. I had fish and chips and The Red Lion, toured Oxford, got lost and almost ended up in the London Zoo, and was stalked on multiple occasions by strange looking European men. These times were all unforgetable.
As hard as it was to tear myself away from the normalacy of real life it was nice to get out of the tiny town to see that there is a whole world out there to discover. I learned that to choose not to experience things outside your comfort zone would be a waste of life. There is so much to see outside of the tiny bubble that we call home.
Bonjour my new life.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Goodbye London...
I could not have asked for a better summer. As I am blessed with a fabulous opportunity to take one last chance to experience the 'single life' in Europe. Tomorrow I will embark on what I would like to call my ''I Can Die Tomorrow List'' I know, I know it sounds strange, but I promise I will explain. Everyone has there to do lists, honey do lists, bucket lists etc. This isn't really much of the first two it is more of a bucket list than anything.
Paris has always been my dream vacation and at 12:45 tomorrow I will be leaving London to start a new but short adventure in Paris. I don't know French which could pose a problem. I don't exactly understand the means of transportation, and I'm not sure where we are heading anyway. What I do know is that this is the beginning of the ride of my life. I only have six more days in Europe and I must say that it has been bittersweet to think that I am leaving after being here for a total of 23 days.
I have learned a lot about myself being here, and I have learned more about those around me. It is strange to think of yourself as a tiny dot amongst a million dots on a huge map. The time change has shown me that not everything functions during the Mountain Standard time of 8-10. While I am asleep people are waking up to go to work. I have watched them whiz by me as I groggily made my way to a train station at 5 am in order to make my way to Scotland. Everything moves so fast here.
I have gotten to see some of the most incredible things here. Stonehenge, Bath, Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and the list goes on. I have loved each day here for different reasons, the new people that I have met have made all the difference in my journey. My London chapter is closing and I'm opening the doors to Paris.
Paris has always been my dream vacation and at 12:45 tomorrow I will be leaving London to start a new but short adventure in Paris. I don't know French which could pose a problem. I don't exactly understand the means of transportation, and I'm not sure where we are heading anyway. What I do know is that this is the beginning of the ride of my life. I only have six more days in Europe and I must say that it has been bittersweet to think that I am leaving after being here for a total of 23 days.
I have learned a lot about myself being here, and I have learned more about those around me. It is strange to think of yourself as a tiny dot amongst a million dots on a huge map. The time change has shown me that not everything functions during the Mountain Standard time of 8-10. While I am asleep people are waking up to go to work. I have watched them whiz by me as I groggily made my way to a train station at 5 am in order to make my way to Scotland. Everything moves so fast here.
Train ride to Edinburgh 5:15 am
Cedar City is nothing in comparison to this big city that I have been plopped into for the last 17 days. There is no longer and sense of comfortability, everything is new and exciting. Getting lost is the best way to find something interesting and as long as you can get your way back to the tube you aren't lost, you are just temporarily confused. We have been confused a lot.
Stonehenge
Big Ben
Roman Baths
Lacock, the most beautiful place I have ever been to.
There is a lot of symbolism when it comes to the door. I clost the door on things of the past to open them to things of the future. This trip is a door I will be finishing the chapters of my single life to open the door to my married life with my best friend. I was sad to leave him, but I don't regret this experience whatsoever. I have learned so much through my traveling here and gained a sense of independence. I have conquired a new country and I am about to move onto another for 4 days.
Next stop, Paris...
Sunday, May 22, 2011
For Egle...
Yesterday a relative of mine from Lithuania told me she wanted the story of how Josh and I met on our blog which I have noticed is really a blog about our life and I highly doubt that he will ever write on this without a push to do so, but I'm fir with that. It is a long story to be honest, one that may get some eyebrow raises, and slight confusion but here it goes.
When I moved to college I has been attending the LDS church for about a year, a few months after being here I had decided that it was time that I were to be baptized. The accumulation of investigating the church, making great friends, and figuring out who I was all lead me to feel as that was the right place for me. So on November 15, 2008 I was baptized into the faith. At that same time Josh was on his mission in the Utah Provo South area and eventually ended up in the Southern Utah University Stake whish was where I was going to school.
As many of you know after someone is baptized they are encouraged to take new member lessions to help with their knowlege of the gospel. Who knew that these lession were going to end up being the beginning of the rest of my life. Sue to the holiday I wasn't able to start my lessions until after the Christmas break was over because I had gone home to see my mom. I was disappointed to find out that one of the missionaries, Elder Tolentino, was transfered out of the area and was being replaced. I realized through my three sets of missionary lessions that sometimes finding the two missionaries that understand you makes the world of difference.
Several days after getting back from vacation, I had left my house to go for a fun something that I only do when heavily prompted by a higher power only to come pack to a pair of name tags waiting outside my door. One I had known, the other unfamiliar. This is the first time I met Josh. I always thought he was cute but I know better than to think that anything would have ever came about with him being on a mission. Per usual the missionaries frequented my house making sure that I was alright, or if I needed anything. It wasn't strange for them to be there on days where they weren't teaching me. Utah is a state full of LDS people and sometimes it was hard to find people who are interested in the church since many of them are already a part of it. The missionaries and I became friends and they were also a big support after being baptized.
After six months of Josh being in Cedar he was transfered to Spanish Fork about three hours north of where I lived. Like a lot of missionaries Josh carried a journal with him that he had people write in before he left his area. Being an 18 year old girl I took advantage of this opportunity. I knew that I wasn't supposed to so I wrote an appropriate letter to him in his journal and slipped one that was more truthful in seperately. I knew that we flirted on occasion, after all he is still a guy regardless of if he was a missionary but it was harmless. My feelings over time made me realize that I would regret not telling him, and honestly I never expected anything in return. I had held back many things because I knew that he was doing the Lord's work.
The day before he left I was given a note and told to read it after he was gone, of course that didn't happen. The feelings were mutual. He had asked to leave the area because he was worried that more feelings would develop the longer that he was in Cedar, only to find out that he would have been there one more transfer. I gained a lot of respect for him that day, it would have been easy to stay, but he knew that it was better to leave and finish what he started. Since he was honest his mission president gave him permission to write me. For the next year Josh and I wrote letters back and forth to stay in communication with each other. At times My letters got few and far between, but neither one of us lost feelings for the other.
This leads us to today...
When I moved to college I has been attending the LDS church for about a year, a few months after being here I had decided that it was time that I were to be baptized. The accumulation of investigating the church, making great friends, and figuring out who I was all lead me to feel as that was the right place for me. So on November 15, 2008 I was baptized into the faith. At that same time Josh was on his mission in the Utah Provo South area and eventually ended up in the Southern Utah University Stake whish was where I was going to school.
As many of you know after someone is baptized they are encouraged to take new member lessions to help with their knowlege of the gospel. Who knew that these lession were going to end up being the beginning of the rest of my life. Sue to the holiday I wasn't able to start my lessions until after the Christmas break was over because I had gone home to see my mom. I was disappointed to find out that one of the missionaries, Elder Tolentino, was transfered out of the area and was being replaced. I realized through my three sets of missionary lessions that sometimes finding the two missionaries that understand you makes the world of difference.
Several days after getting back from vacation, I had left my house to go for a fun something that I only do when heavily prompted by a higher power only to come pack to a pair of name tags waiting outside my door. One I had known, the other unfamiliar. This is the first time I met Josh. I always thought he was cute but I know better than to think that anything would have ever came about with him being on a mission. Per usual the missionaries frequented my house making sure that I was alright, or if I needed anything. It wasn't strange for them to be there on days where they weren't teaching me. Utah is a state full of LDS people and sometimes it was hard to find people who are interested in the church since many of them are already a part of it. The missionaries and I became friends and they were also a big support after being baptized.
After six months of Josh being in Cedar he was transfered to Spanish Fork about three hours north of where I lived. Like a lot of missionaries Josh carried a journal with him that he had people write in before he left his area. Being an 18 year old girl I took advantage of this opportunity. I knew that I wasn't supposed to so I wrote an appropriate letter to him in his journal and slipped one that was more truthful in seperately. I knew that we flirted on occasion, after all he is still a guy regardless of if he was a missionary but it was harmless. My feelings over time made me realize that I would regret not telling him, and honestly I never expected anything in return. I had held back many things because I knew that he was doing the Lord's work.
The day before he left I was given a note and told to read it after he was gone, of course that didn't happen. The feelings were mutual. He had asked to leave the area because he was worried that more feelings would develop the longer that he was in Cedar, only to find out that he would have been there one more transfer. I gained a lot of respect for him that day, it would have been easy to stay, but he knew that it was better to leave and finish what he started. Since he was honest his mission president gave him permission to write me. For the next year Josh and I wrote letters back and forth to stay in communication with each other. At times My letters got few and far between, but neither one of us lost feelings for the other.
This leads us to today...
Kasi and Josh, 2009
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Give Me Your Forever
As wedding plans start and the day gets closer, nerves mount. I think about all the support that we have as we embark on this new life. I really feel like I am a million miles away and I know we couldn't do it without the support of all of our family and friends. There have been times where both of us thought that we would never make it to where we are now, but we did. Two and a half years of trying and failing, waiting and wishing all leading to this moment. With guidence everything has worked out in ways we both never could have imagined.
We don't know where we are heading, but we know that we are doing so together. I was told the day before yesterday by a man on our tour bus that the odds are against me but it's possible. He and his wife were in England celebrating their thirty fifth wedding anniversary. They got married when they were twenty. I know that sometimes marriage seems as if it is expendable because getting divorced is so easy which is why I love the idea of being sealed in the temple.
Josh and I have been through many trials together but the ups and downs have made us grow together as one, and as long as we are growing together through God. I was going some reading and found how the marriage triangle is something that strengthens a relationship as long as you keep God the top priority. It sounds simple really, but sometimes things get lost in the hustle of everyday life. To josh and I it has been a realization that sometimes the things that you want aren't necessarily the things that you need to be happy. Value the small things that are important in life and never take for granted those who love and support you.
We don't know where we are heading, but we know that we are doing so together. I was told the day before yesterday by a man on our tour bus that the odds are against me but it's possible. He and his wife were in England celebrating their thirty fifth wedding anniversary. They got married when they were twenty. I know that sometimes marriage seems as if it is expendable because getting divorced is so easy which is why I love the idea of being sealed in the temple.
Josh and I have been through many trials together but the ups and downs have made us grow together as one, and as long as we are growing together through God. I was going some reading and found how the marriage triangle is something that strengthens a relationship as long as you keep God the top priority. It sounds simple really, but sometimes things get lost in the hustle of everyday life. To josh and I it has been a realization that sometimes the things that you want aren't necessarily the things that you need to be happy. Value the small things that are important in life and never take for granted those who love and support you.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Absense Makes the Heart Grow Fonder.
I'm not sure who said this but it was someone who is probably dead by now and extremely smart. Being in Europe has been an amazing experience for me. To have the opportunity to see London, Bath, Stonehenge, Edinburgh and everywhere between has been more than I can ever have asked for. It came at a difficult time for both Josh and I. To get engaged two days prior to me leaving for this trip and him leaving to go to Canada was hard, but we have made it through 15 days and there are only 8 more to go.
I admit I have cried and laughed, but through emails and instant messaging the downhill slope seems like nothing. Thank goodness for the bridge that technology has made in our lives. We started out two and half years ago writing letters who knew that would lead to emails about our wedding. Josh said something the other day that made me realize just how powerful God is in our lives.
When he and I first met it was under complicated circumstances, but he couldn't have said it better. ''If we were to had made one different choice in life then we wouldn't have ended up together.'' I strongly believe in this statement. My opportunities to go to school and his choice to go on a mission was one that we both contemplated about and because we took a chance and listened to our promptings we ended up together.
Right now the distance is something that we have grown familiar with. 23 days is nothing when I look back on it. Since he can't work while he is in school summer is the only time he can make up time that he loses during the school year making me realize that marriage is about sacrifices. We know it will be hard and the odds are against us, but we have proved people wrong over and over. Why stop now?
Each day spent apart has made me value the time that we have spent together in the past as well as feel the excitement about being together again. I have gotten to share with him the great times that I have had here seeing all of the historical sights and taking in this once in a lifetime experience. Each time I eat something delicious I think how much he would love this considering he is constantly eating.
I leave for Paris on the 24th of May to fullfill my all time dream of seeing the Eiffle Tower only to head back home on the 29th to marry the man of my dreams. The spirit works in amazing ways.
I admit I have cried and laughed, but through emails and instant messaging the downhill slope seems like nothing. Thank goodness for the bridge that technology has made in our lives. We started out two and half years ago writing letters who knew that would lead to emails about our wedding. Josh said something the other day that made me realize just how powerful God is in our lives.
When he and I first met it was under complicated circumstances, but he couldn't have said it better. ''If we were to had made one different choice in life then we wouldn't have ended up together.'' I strongly believe in this statement. My opportunities to go to school and his choice to go on a mission was one that we both contemplated about and because we took a chance and listened to our promptings we ended up together.
Right now the distance is something that we have grown familiar with. 23 days is nothing when I look back on it. Since he can't work while he is in school summer is the only time he can make up time that he loses during the school year making me realize that marriage is about sacrifices. We know it will be hard and the odds are against us, but we have proved people wrong over and over. Why stop now?
Each day spent apart has made me value the time that we have spent together in the past as well as feel the excitement about being together again. I have gotten to share with him the great times that I have had here seeing all of the historical sights and taking in this once in a lifetime experience. Each time I eat something delicious I think how much he would love this considering he is constantly eating.
I leave for Paris on the 24th of May to fullfill my all time dream of seeing the Eiffle Tower only to head back home on the 29th to marry the man of my dreams. The spirit works in amazing ways.
Me and Maddy in front of Buckingham Palace!
From London with Love...
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The Proposal
I know that this is the story that everyone wants to know. I get asked day after day and to be quite honest after the millionth time telling it you start to feel silly.
Josh knows that I absolutely hate surprises that I know about. Christmas and my birthday come very difficult each year because I am a girl of little patience and the anticipation kills me. We had talked a lot about rings and weddings and marriage, I guess after two and a half years of writing letters, phone calls, and visits things like that just come up. When January arrived and I finally had Josh close enough to see him as I pleased so naturally the talk got more serious. I knew that we were going to get married and that he was the one that I wanted to spend eternity with, I just wasn't sure when all of this was going to happen. Josh had his wheels turning already.
On one of our last nights in Cedar City before we had to separate for the summer after a long day or packing and moving we decided that the lack of food in the house just wasn't going to sustain us until the next morning so we headed out to dinner. After dinner Josh asked if I would drive him to his house, so I complied. He hadn't mentioned that he needed to go there so I assumed that he had forgotten something. Next to his house is a vacant street, completely dark and very quiet. He asked me to park along the street and put a slow song on. We had danced before in the street so I didn't really think much of it. I'm not sure what he said, but as we continued to dance he began talking about the future.
His heart started pounding, so I asked if everything was alright, he dropped to his knee and asked if I would spend the rest of my life with him.
I said yes...
May 3, 2011 became th beginning of the rest of our lives together. I'm not sure what the future holds but together we can learn. There will be ups and downs and inbetweens. This is Writing on paper with no lines.
Josh knows that I absolutely hate surprises that I know about. Christmas and my birthday come very difficult each year because I am a girl of little patience and the anticipation kills me. We had talked a lot about rings and weddings and marriage, I guess after two and a half years of writing letters, phone calls, and visits things like that just come up. When January arrived and I finally had Josh close enough to see him as I pleased so naturally the talk got more serious. I knew that we were going to get married and that he was the one that I wanted to spend eternity with, I just wasn't sure when all of this was going to happen. Josh had his wheels turning already.
On one of our last nights in Cedar City before we had to separate for the summer after a long day or packing and moving we decided that the lack of food in the house just wasn't going to sustain us until the next morning so we headed out to dinner. After dinner Josh asked if I would drive him to his house, so I complied. He hadn't mentioned that he needed to go there so I assumed that he had forgotten something. Next to his house is a vacant street, completely dark and very quiet. He asked me to park along the street and put a slow song on. We had danced before in the street so I didn't really think much of it. I'm not sure what he said, but as we continued to dance he began talking about the future.
His heart started pounding, so I asked if everything was alright, he dropped to his knee and asked if I would spend the rest of my life with him.
I said yes...
I must have loved you before..
There are so many things in life that you wish to share with people but the distance keeps you from doing so. today our means of communication are so vast, but for those who don't have a Facebook or find writing letters too outdated this is a place to meet in the middle. Our families dot the map and I know that we can't talk to everyone at every moment of everyday.
Our journey is here for all to read, each day a new experience, good bad and ugly. As a new couple we know that we will experience it all, need advice, and comfort. Truth is something that I find important so this is where we will share those truthful experiences with those who matter.
Our journey is here for all to read, each day a new experience, good bad and ugly. As a new couple we know that we will experience it all, need advice, and comfort. Truth is something that I find important so this is where we will share those truthful experiences with those who matter.
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